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🌊 The Purging of SDNY
How unusual is Donald Trump’s effort to drop charges against Eric Adams?
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Danielle Sassoon is no liberal.
She worked for Justice Antonin Scalia, arguably the most influential conservative in Supreme Court history. She belongs to the Federalist Society, the influential group that promotes conservative legal thought. On February 2 – less than two weeks after Sassoon was sworn in to serve as the Southern District of New York’s top prosecutor – she published an article on the Wall Street Journal’s conservative opinion page that said her “top priority” would be supporting “prosecutors who have dedicated themselves to pursuing justice and restoring public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
And today, she’s out of a job and facing a potential Justice Department investigation.
The situation – many would say scandal – began last Monday, when the DoJ ordered Sassoon to drop the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. In today’s deep dive, we examine how unusual that move is, why Sassoon rejected it, and what it means for the US justice system more broadly.
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Questions Asked, Questions Answered
Yesterday we asked: Are you fearful or excited about what Trump is doing?
Here are some replies:
Luciano wrote:
I do not think Trump is always right, but the Democrats are defending fraud, corruption, imperialism, censorship, and endless wars. And I am sick of them
Caleb from Indiana wrote:
In short I am concerned. I would say I’m a closer to the middle conservative. I live in a small conservative farm community in Indiana. I voted for Trump. I am for cutting down the excess of the government. Now I know there are probably thousands of people working on that and probably before he was president but it seems like he is hacking very quickly. I’m not sure if he has a plan. What I am most concerned about is his collaboration with these tech giants. Their influence on him is like never before. I am afraid we are headed, to an ultra conservative dictatorship. All in the name of freedom, we will be giving up that very thing. Digital currency, AI, an attitude of America will take over the world. There might be good things happening, but we are far from the freedom our forefathers wanted for us.
Sandy wrote:
I agree with many of the goals that Trump wants to do. Deport ILLEGAL aliens, reduce government waste. It's how he's going about it that is scary. Sending unvetted computer moguls after our data is wrong, very wrong. And letting Musk, who has gov't contracts after departments that have control of Musk contracts suddenly becomes conflict of interest. It is the way he's going about it that is invasive. People lost their incomes and livelihoods for just doing their jobs. Thus leaves room for replacement employees that are loyalists. That leads simply to dictatorship.
Helen wrote:
I cannot help but wonder how different the reaction in the left would be if the exact same number of firings were occurring but involved people who a republican administration had pit in place.
Trump tried playing nice (relatively for him) last time and got nowhere.
I am glad the government is finally facing the same financial accountability as the rest of the world. The government is not a charitable institution and it is not the government’s responsibility to make sure you have a job. Even if you are not productive. Even if you are not qualified.
Go. Find. A. Job. Any job. Stop assuming you are entitled to your dream job. Stop assuming some jobs are beneath you. If you have to learn a new skill or switch fields then so be it. I wholly support tax dollars being spent to support training in any field where demand is outstripping the supply. Odd is it not? Nobody was foaming at the mouth to forgive trade school debt. Perhaps because those graduates are not having any trouble paying back their loans?
For too long the government has been enabling a skewed educational system where perceived value is more important than actual demand. Now that is hopefully being rectified and everyone will adjust their educational aspirations accordingly.
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Editor’s Note
We hope you all had nice, long weekends. Lots to cover this week. In case you missed any of our three weekend editions, you can find them below:
On how Mitch McConnell became a lonely man
Our report from Trash City, Sierra Leone
Our deep-dive into the legal theory guiding President Trump’s actions
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on today’s edition. See you tomorrow.
–Max and Max